Hernán Crespo has admitted that he came close to quitting football after his first spell at Chelsea under Claudio Ranieri drove him to despair. The Argentina international is back at Stamford Bridge in a No9 shirt this season, but claims that 12 months ago he was close to leaving the game altogether.

Crespo was signed from Internazionale for £16.8m in August 2003 by the then Chelsea manager Ranieri but the move turned into a nightmare for the striker and he scored just 12 goals in an injury-plagued season.

It was only the success of last season's loan move to Milan, for whom he scored 16 goals, that has given him renewed desire for the sport. He wanted to stay with the rossoneri permanently but, with the two clubs unable to agree a deal, the 30-year-old is happy to be back in London.

And he has already found Chelsea under Jose Mourinho a more enjoyable experience than the one he disliked so under Ranieri. "I had a lot of personal problems off the pitch. It is so heavy to explain.

"I came here when the season had already started and I lost the time I needed to look for an apartment, the little things.

"I wasn't depressed but when I finished the season I thought seriously about leaving football. I spoke with my national manager and said I don't want to go to the Copa America because I need to feel again the passion to play.

"When you change your country and you don't speak the language and you feel alone, it is the worst thing. I don't play for the money, I play for the passion. I want to play to win. Now I [will] play with it. Milan gave me the passion back because I worked there in the right way."

The former Parma striker is now looking forward to repaying Mourinho's faith in him and is determined to continue his scoring form wearing his favourite shirt number. "I am very happy to be at Chelsea and to work with Mourinho. It is a new method of training for me and it is very funny in a different way.

"It means a lot to be given the No9 shirt. I like this number. I always play with this number, maybe sometimes 10 or 11 in Italy, but every time I have played with this number the season has gone well. I don't want this year to be an exception."